1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cable connector, and particularly to a cable connector for reliably connecting with a complementary connector to ensure proper signal transmission therebetween.
2. Description of Prior Art
A cable connector with a cable terminated to one end thereof is commonly used for interconnecting electronic components. Most notably, a cable connector is used to connect a computer to a peripheral device, such as a monitor, a printer or a CD-ROM drive.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,201,669 discloses a conventional cable connector 3 as shown in FIG. 1. The conventional cable connector 3 comprises an outer housing 30, a latching mechanism consisting of a pair of press-buttons 31 and a pair of clip pieces 32 coupled to the press-buttons 31, and a contact assembly 33 received in the outer housing 30. The contact assembly 33 comprises a contact subassembly 331 and a shell 332 enclosing the contact subassembly 331. The clip pieces 32 are hinged to the shell 332 of the contact assembly 33 and each comprises a leaf spring 321 with a pair of claw hooks 322 and an abutment arm 323 formed on opposite ends thereof. A U-shaped spring section 324 is formed between the abutment arm 323 and the leaf spring 321 for providing the clip piece 32 with resiliency. The abutment arm 323 is adapted for abutting against a side surface of the contact assembly 33 and the claw hooks 322 are adapted for locking to corresponding latch members of a complementary connector (not shown) with which the cable connector 3 is mated. When the press-buttons 31 are squeezed inward, the claw hooks 322 move away from each other thereby unlocking the cable connector 3 from the complementary connector.
However, since the clip pieces 32 are firmly fixed onto the press-buttons 31, an insufficient spring force for latching and unlatching operations is provided. Since only the spring section 324 provides the clip piece 32 with resiliency, the spring section 324 tends to yield after long term use due to metal fatigue thereof. Furthermore, while squeezing the press-buttons 31 for latching and unlatching the complementary connector to and from the cable connector 3, the press-buttons 31 may be easily damaged. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,178,556, 5,199,897 and Taiwan Patent Application Nos. 77204597, 80205362 disclose pertinent latching mechanisms with the same problem.
FIG. 2 shows another conventional cable connector 4 as disclosed in Taiwan Patent Application No. 84206625. The cable connector 4 comprises a dielectric housing 41, a contact assembly 42 received in the housing 41 and a pair of opposite latching arms 43. The contact assembly 42 comprises a contact subassembly 421 and upper and lower shields 422, 423 enclosing the contact subassembly 421. The contact assembly 42 is received in a cavity 411 defined in the housing 41. Since no retention means is provided to retain the contact subassembly 421 within the shields 422, 423, the contact subassembly 421 may become improperly positioned in the housing 41 when connecting with / disconnecting from a complementary connector (not shown). Pertinent cable connectors with the same problem are disclosed in Taiwan Patent Application. Nos. 82217688 and 83107038.
A further conventional cable connector is disclosed in Taiwan Patent Application No. 84200820, wherein adjacent solder portions of a row of contacts are staggered and have different lengths for facilitating soldering thereof. Since the contacts have different lengths, signal integrity may be disrupted especially during high frequency signal transmission.
The present invention is directed at solving the above mentioned problems by providing a cable connector comprising retention means for retaining a contact subassembly in a shield member, a plurality of contacts having the same length and an improved latching mechanism.